BootsnAll Travel Community

I read a lot of travel blogs (thanks to "push technology") and I gotta tell you, there is no shortage of tedious blogs out there. After awhile, they all read the same.

Example: "Tiffany and I took the bus/train/plane and (insert long, tedious complaint about discomfort with chosen mode of transport) and after 18 hours arrived in (insert name of destination here). This place is (insert obviously copied history/background transcribed directly from book, as if we care) known for its (choose one: churches/museum/ancient stone walls surrounding the city) Later, we met up with some (Aussies/Irish/Canadian) that we knew from (last hostel or guesthouse) and went to the pub. We had so much fun!"

Thankfully, none of us would ever dream of writing like that. There must be some Microsoft "travel writing wizard" feature in Word that everyone is using to sound as dull as possible. The blog comments are always the same: "Sounds like you're having a great time. Love, Mom"

What, in your opinion, makes for boring first-person-account travel writing?
And what makes for exciting first-person-account travel writing?

Such a great question! I think to write a good travel blog, the key is: engage the reader.

Why should I care if someone flew 18 hours? But I WOULD care if: "After an 18 hour flight I arrived in _____ smelling like a Bloody Mary, courtesy of the guy in seat 8J who could use a lesson in preventative liquor sloshing."

I can relate to that. I can picture the scene in my mind and suddenly become a part of the journey. As a reader, I don't want to be "talked at" and bored with an itinerary of the day. Instead, it's interesting to use the details of the trip (the monument, the city, your new friends) as a backdrop for a story. And maybe choose one or two MAJOR things of the day to share. Not a list of every moment, every landmark, every time the squatty was used that day.

Comments? Pft. What can you do? Mom, just keep the love flowin'.

Maybe they are boring to you because you don't personally know the people writing them? Or maybe because the writers are just doing the same old thing that everyone else does? Of course everyone has unique personal experiences while traveling, but the vast majority just follow their guidebooks and do the suggested itineraries.

On top of that, most people don't feel like spending a lot of time documenting their trip while they're traveling, so they just go to the Internet cafes and write something quickly without much thought to using amazing analogies or similies. And forget about publishing more than a couple of photographs before returning home.

I tend to view my own blog (which, incidentally is down right now...that's the trouble with running a website from your uncle's basement) as something for my friends and family. I'd rather keep a blog than send out a mass email anyway. Maybe I'll do some more serious writing when I get home, but for now I totally understand that my blog probably is boring to those who have never met me.

What makes for interesting first-person-account travel writing?

I totally agree with you static. People need to practice brevity. I hate the play-by-play. I always keep my posts short and to the point

Isn't it universally acknowledged that the blog is, in fact, the last refuge of the mediocre writer? (Present company here on BnA excluded, of course. Ahem.) Most published travel writing is, by and large, quite horrible. Hell, even Green Hills of Africa has some moments where you too wish to eat Hemingway's gun, and no one captures the way it was of a stretch of country like Papa. Thus, what chance does Theroux have?

What particularly boring blog brought on this set of observations, Static?

To me an interesting travel blog would be a unique one - not stuff that 10 million people have already done.

"I was on a bus for 18 hours..." - boring
"I had a delicious empanada for lunch..." - boring
"I visited a lovely cathedral..." - boring
"I met two (insert western European nationality here) and we got drunk together..." - boring
"I went into the jungle with natives for a month and lived off of insects..." - interesting
"I was the first person to solo climb X mountain..." - interesting

But I think a travel blog almost has to be boring unless you only update it once every few weeks with the highlights of your journey. Also, maybe I am a mediocre writer, but I don't write for fame, fortune, or money. I principally write so I can remember my trip years from now. An added benefit is that others can see what I'm up to as well, as long as they can get through my blog without falling asleep.

Maybe we shouldn't single out any boring travel blogs, but could someone point us to an interesting one? One that captivates our imagination day after day? A blog whose style of writing could teach us all a thing or two about how to write an interesting blog?

Here is part of the one that prompted this topic: (it is NOT from a BNA blog)

"This underground city dates back to at least 1200 BC and was used as a refuge during the persistent raids in the area at the time. There is an elaborate system of ventilation shafts and wells. There are rooms for storing food, kitchens, living quarters, church etc. Only a portion of it has been excavated, and an even smaller part is open to the public, but in all it goes about 8 stories underground."

I get an exact one of these from a different person each day. All are the same: someone has just parroted back what they have been told without telling us what they think, what they saw, what they felt.

This is an example of a good blog. Feeling, emotion, opinions. The assumption that the reader is just as intelligent.

Granted most blogs will continue to be boring because, let's face it: most people are morons. However, we are not. We are intelligent, talented, interesting people.

And we think before we write.

I'll take this moment to point people to the fantastic thread. It has pointed me to quite a few interesting blogs.

Now back on topic....
I think there are a lot of tedious blogs out there because a great majority of people blogging are treating the exercise more like an on-line diary rather than a published piece of work. I think the majority of people out think tediously, rather just like the writing you described as tedious. When in a new place with new people, most people may find something absolutely fascinating that maybe mundane or trite to people who have either been there before or have read a few travel stories before. I don't think this takes away at all from their blog. I for one enjoy looking back at what I wrote as a window into what interested me at the time.

When I read blogs I usually can determine if someone is interested in just an online journal and the let the family back home know how they are, or whether the author is trying and succeeding at creating something more. And even those people who are trying to 'create something more' often use up quite a few uninteresting entries before they succeed.

So to answer the question directly:
1) I look for uncommon thoughts on common things.
2) Unique experiences
3) Insight and transformation

I'm a travel blog addict, I love reading them and I'm continuously looking for new ones with a fresh approach and great pics. I'm the first to admit that they are few and far between. Simply, a great blog is one that is written by someone with a developed talent for writing, willing to spend the time doing so during their travelling and with an intended audience of more than just mom, dad, family and friends. This one and this one are some of my favorites. I laughed, I cried, I marveled, and I learned from them.

Most blogs that are out there are written by people like me: no experience in writing beautiful prose, with an intended audience of their closest friends and relatives and as a means to document their trip for the later years. I wrote a blog when I went to Mexico. I re-read it a few weeks ago with a fresh eye and I'm the first to admit that it sucked! It's mediocre and similar to all the other ones out there, but during the 3 week trip, I did not want to spend 2-4 hours every day in an internet cafe writing and editing. I would rather be living it than writing about it but my family and friends wanted to know about it hence the boring generic blog. On the other hand, I know my friends and family enjoyed reading it and it brought back fantastic memories of my trip when re-read. I think it accomplished its goal.

I'm leaving in September on a RTW and I will have another blog for friends and family. The nice thing is that I will have the freedom to invest more time in the blog, so I plan to put more of an effort to "think before I write", instead of writing what I'm thinking. :-)

I believe that most people are only writing their blogs as a kind of "postcard home".

My assumption is (and I may be wrong) that the discerning who come here to read the Travel Writing forum do so because they appreciate a well-crafted sentence and a clever turn of phrase. Writing with care is not done to impress others, it is done for ones self and/or ones personal growth. Any extra enjoyment gathered by our readers is just a bonus.

I cringe when I look at what I wrote in 1990. Dreadful. Embarrassing. Trite. It took a few years before it occurred to me that I was not being paid by the word and that I ought to self-edit a heckuva lot more.

I learned a lot about the art and power of brevity when I read the classic "On Writing Well" about 5 years ago. I think my writing has become much better since then, but in this case I'm not sure brevity is always best.

If someone wanted to gain a large readership of strangers they should approach their travel journal in a certain way with that in mind. But if their goal was to document their trip for their own purposes and as a progress report for friends and family, I think it really shouldn't be judged as potential art. If those people are deluded into thinking strangers actually care about their by-the-numbers journal, then I guess that's a different thing and we should make fun of them.

I mainly did my journal site as a diary for myself and I was surprised that so many of my friends and family said they read all of it. I think if someone is going to one of the places I visited they may find some of my info interesting, but just because I leave it online doesn't mean I think it deserves to be widely read. And I'm really glad I did it the way I did.

OK, I found a good example of the sort of blog that sets my teeth on edge.

No. That's an excellent example. My only question is: why would you even read it? (I do confess I forced myself to finish the entry just to see how terrible it was. And, oh yes, it was. It very much was. Oh my. )

(I am reading anything I can on Arequipa in preparation for a trip there soon)

Gotcha! Give my best to Brittany and KristenJennifer!

I can just picture her marveling at all the extra hits her blog is receiving now!

What can I say? I just added one more hit to Brittany and KristenJennifer. Thank you, Static.

I usually bestow my hits on exciting blogs though. Like Bugsy and his Bandits. The title captivates me. He has a great way of telling a story, where he draws you in with a little fun story, a little seriousness like history or political commentary, and a sprinkling of photos so you can see, as well as read, what he is experiencing.

What I really think, Static, that makes a blog is how much you, the reader, enjoys the way the blog writer thinks and writes. For example, pretend you are at the Cusco Cafe in Arequipa and KristenJennifer is there, and Bugsy's daddy, and a bunch of good and mediocre blog writers are there. The people that you enjoy talking to are going to be the same people whose blogs you enjoy reading. At least that's what I think.

I find most blogs tedious. But the good ones I get addicted too. Like a lot of people I`ve read a lot of Conor Grennan`s blog. Mostly because I thought it was funny.
My blog is mostly for me, to remember the trip, but also because I want to start writing in preparation for going back to college to write a thesis. I`m crap at writing and figured I could do with the practice.
I wish I could put more photos in my blog but they make the writing go blue because there`s something wrong with the code.

For me...

People are always way more interesting than place.

Today is always more interesting than 500 years ago.

Objectiveness is overrated.

Making an ass out of yourself in a foreign country while doing your darnedest to be culturally sensitive is priceless.

The more you write the better you get. And the better you get the more likely the one time a literary agent stumbles across your blog he'll decide to email you, "This is a great idea. Ever think about writing a book?"

And then you realize all of those crappy posts about sitting on airplanes, trains, and standing in line in immigration were worth it.

Keep blogging! Crap becomes less crappy over time. In this way, crap is kinda like wine.